


A Snowy Hell

by mobzter



Category: Original Work
Genre: Action & Romance, Animal Traits, Catgirls, F/F, Futuristic, LGBTQ, Original Character(s), POV Female Character, POV First Person, Smut, Wolfgirls
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-02
Updated: 2020-06-17
Packaged: 2021-02-28 20:15:46
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 12,834
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23402839
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mobzter/pseuds/mobzter
Summary: Futuristic story about a catgirl who gets herself in trouble. (Currently discontinued)
Kudos: 6





	1. Heavy Impact.

I grumbled as I lay in my bed- Well, I kind of jumped into it, I guess. Anyway, I was exhausted. Even though the fresh factory new smell lurked in the air, I could've fallen asleep right away. The beep of the intercom ensured I wouldn't get any sleep any time soon, though. I groaned and propped myself up on my arms and turned to look at the door; it slid open to the right with a loud hiss, and a man clad in the company's formal black-and-grey latex suit walked in. He had dreadlocks running down his shoulders, and his back too, I'd assume.

"Yo, how ya holdin' up?" He cocked an eyebrow up as he looked at me, a subtle grin on his dark face. "I heard you'd finally passed the test, took ya long enough, ya know." He broke out into a full grin as he poked fun at me. I grumbled yet again, now I had to deal with _this_ idiot. "Whaddya want, Race?" Is the only response I allowed him. "Jeez, don't need to be so cold, haha!" He chuckled to himself as I sat up in my bed, crossing my legs. "Yeah, yeah, spit it out." I wanted to get some rest after everything I had to deal with, but now this dude had to come and interrupt my sleep, jeez! "Nah, really though, I wanted to come congratulate ya." He pulled his left arm from out behind him; I hadn't noticed he was hiding it before now, and he threw something at me. I caught it in my hands, and turned it over to get a better look at it. "Holy shit, no way!" I yelled as I looked up in surprise. "Dude, I didn't think you'd actually manage this, what the fuck?" I looked back down at the object in my hands; a chocolate bar. "You know I've got my ways." I'm sure he was giving me a smug look, but I was too busy inspecting my chocolate to actually look. "Damn, thanks man." I smiled and looked up at him, which caused him to avert his eyes from me. He looked happy, but a bit flustered. "Yeah yeah, now, you remember what you agreed on, right?" He had his head turned away, and looked at me from the side of his eyes. My face felt warm, and I sighed. "Shit, yeah, all right..." I trailed off as I set my chocolate bar down. He returned his full attention to me as he smirked and approached me. I switched from my crossed legs to kneeling on my bed. "J-just be gentle, all right?" I mumbled out as he swiftly cleared the distance between us.

He laid a single hand on my head, between my ears. I shivered, and he started to pet me. He quickly put another hand on one of my tall, cat ears. I flinched, for real. "Hey! Don't actually touch it!" I protested, but did not do anything to stop this harsh treatment of my head. I promised him, after all. "Shit, my bad. Couldn't help myself." He pulled his hand away from my ear, but continued to pet me. _God, this is embarrassing..._

After what felt like forever, I pulled away from his hand and sighed contentedly. "There, that enough for you?" I probably had a pained look on my face, as he practically jumped back and began to apologize. "Sorry, sorry, I got carried away." I huffed and puffed my cheeks out as I crossed my arms. "You're lucky I didn't beat your ass, honestly... Still, thank you for the chocolate." I nodded to him toward the end of my comment, to help convey my gratitude. "Yeah, yeah. It was worth it, that's for sure." He chuckled sheepishly, and fiddled around uncomfortably. I usually don't let people touch me so... _Intimately._ I did promise him that he could get special "headpat privileges," as he put it, when we ended things, though, so I guess that makes him a special case.

"Oh, right." His face lights up as he remembers something, which causes me to lose my train of thought and return my attention to him. "I know you just got done with your test a while ago and all, but the headmaster wants to talk to you." He gestures behind him with his thumb. "Dunno what for, but it sounded urgent." I cringe at this new information. Really? Fuck, it's never a good thing to be called on personally by the headmaster. "You sure she didn't say anything about what she needs me for?" I ask, looking to get some idea as to why I've been called up. He shrugged. "Sorry, Vie. Didn't wanna push it." I nod in understanding, and heave out a sigh. "Whatever, thanks Race." He smiles. "No problem, I'll be seeing ya later, girlfriend." He hurried out of the room with a grin, as I throw a pillow at him. It hits his back and lands on the ground just before the door as it closes with another loud hiss. I ruffle my hair up as I groan; the last thing I needed was to get called up. Fuck me. Well, might as well get some more _proper_ clothes on.

I had the same uniform on as Race, but it wasn't quite _formal_ enough for a meeting with the Headmaster of this academy. I got out of my bed and stretched my arms up behind my head, brushing past my short, well-kept dark hair. I took a quick look around the room before I left. "This is my place now, huh...?" I finally got a room of my own. Now I don't have to sleep in the overcrowded barracks anymore. The Barracks was a glorified name; it was nowhere as fancy as it sounded, but it is what it is. I turned around and grabbed the luggage I'd left on the floor; searching through it for anything that might look classy. I grabbed the best, most modest clothes I could find, and made my way through the station up to "The Tower," as it's often referred to as. As I walk through the halls of the station, I can't but feel in awe at the sheer size of the place. The tunnel I'm in is one of dozens- No, probably _hundreds_ of glass tunnels leading to a different part of the station. There weren't many lights on the outer wall, so the view of space without any light pollution was amazing. There was a yellow star next to the station, but it seemed to be on the other side right now. The tunnels were based on the wall of the Station and were used to quickly connect different parts of the buildings on the Outer Wall. The Academy and Tower were separate, but the Tower is generally used by the Academy's Headmaster. Although she didn't actually do very much but sit up there and look pretty, she did take part in the more serious matters of the Academy. If you were lucky, you'd never have to even _see_ the Headmaster during your entire stay at the Academy, so, being called directly up to the Tower, by the Headmaster _herself_ , doesn't bode very well. I was feeling a bit fidgety, and fiddled around with my hands as I reached the base of the Tower. The base of the Tower was a large spherical shape, made up of giant octagonal reinforced glass "plates," with the actual Tower in the center with an elevator at the very base.

As I approached the door to the building, it opened automatically, with a loud hiss, as it sensed me approaching. I stepped inside and looked around. The place was almost completely empty, save for some important-looking figures standing around, talking. They seemed to be waiting to talk to the Headmaster. Ugh, why do I have to be here...? I continued to the elevator's entrance, passing by a few of those important figures I mentioned. They seemed to practically glare at me as I passed them. I'm sorry, okay! I don't want to be here either! I reached the elevator before I'd realized it, but now that I was here, I remembered that I have no actual idea how to use this thing; there was a holographic panel with big, bold letters that said "ELEVATOR," but otherwise no visible buttons or holo-panels to use. The doors themselves were gigantic, and seemed to be blast-proof. Damn, this place is reinforced, huh? As I was left to scratch my head, a man approached me. One of my ears flickered as it automatically turned to listen to his footsteps, soon followed by me, myself, turning to look. The man had formal, military-looking attire on. He wore a a black beret with a grey line on the up-standing side, and I immediately noticed the cybernetic implant in his right eye; it gave his eye an eerie blue glow. The rest of the right side of his face looked like it had been burned severely. His right arm had been replaced with a cybernetic arm. Oh boy. He was wearing a green, armored latex suit. "Hey there, miss." His voice was deep and gruff. "Looking to talk to Miss Scarlett?" I nodded; I was too scared to talk to this guy. "Now, you don't need to be scared, now. I'm Miss Scarlett's bodyguard. I don't do much other than watch the elevator, though, heh." He flashed me a grin. He seemed to be trying to lighten the mood; maybe my anxiety was showing on my face? I sheepishly grinned back, trying to muster up the courage to respond.

The elevator beeped, which prompted me to look over at the holographic display, which now said in big, bold letters; "ACCESS GRANTED." The doors opened up slowly, they seemed to be several inches thick. I glanced back at the bodyguard, but he just nodded toward the elevator. "Better get going, I heard Miss Scarlett's been waiting for you." He adopted a more serious look now, and even lowered his voice. "Stay on you best behavior, you hear?" I nodded vigorously before quickly entering the elevator. The bodyguard snorted, and pulled up a display over his cyborg arm, messed around a bit, then gave me a little wave of goodbye. The elevator doors closed, and I was on my way up. "Fuuuck, here we go..." I mumbled as the elevator shot up the Tower.

I shifted my weight onto my other leg as I waited for the elevator to reach the top. The elevator had some lights in the top, but it was mostly empty, otherwise. There were bars to support yourself in case you lost your balance, but I didn't really need them, so I just kind of ignored them. The elevator seemed to slow, maybe we were reaching the top, finally? My guess was right; the doors hiss and open- Or don't? I hear someone clear their throat behind me, which causes me to flinch and turn around. Oh. Whoops. The room before me looks like an office; there was a large, metallic desk with some tablets on the top, multiple hovering chairs are in front of the desk, and a woman, wearing a mask, with long red hair is sitting behind the desk. I swallow a lump in my throat as I take a step forward into the room. The elevator's doors close behind me, hissing shut.

A garbled, robotic voice speaks to me. "Miss Violet Starfarer, I presume?" I nod, standing at attention. The woman at the desk sighs. "At ease, and please, have a seat." She gestures toward one of the floating chairs, which promptly turns around. I let my posture drop, just a little, and I take a seat. The chair automatically turns around to face the woman. Up close, I immediately notice her "mask" is, in fact, her actual face. Although skin is visible at the edges of her face, the rest is a silvery metal. Her eyes seem to be cybernetic, too; she didn't even bother trying to disguise them. Her eyes are black, except for a blue ring on her pupils. She appears to have a mouth, though. I'm unsure if her mouth actually "works," until she speaks again and her mouth moves as if nothing were different about it. "I am aware of how my face must appear to you, but I must ask you to give me your full attention." She says blandly, with her garbled voice. I stutter out an apology, but she waves it off.

"You must be wondering why I called you here." I nod. I notice that she's wearing a black-and-grey cloak over her suit, which looks metallic as well, and the cloak seems to be made of a heavy cloth. "I believe your father was Explorer Maxwell, is he not?" I look up at her and nod. She looks satisfied with herself and continues. "You are here because of his personal recommendation, which I assume you are aware of?" I nod again, now slightly confused, though. Surely she didn't call me up just to talk about my father? "Good, and you are aware of the weight of the epithet Explorer?" I nod, it's pretty common knowledge. Explorer is a term used for those who explore the Frontier; the edge of known space and beyond. Not many can call themselves Explorers, nowadays. She sighs, and pinches the bridge of her nose for a moment. "That is good. I believe you joined the Academy to become an Explorer?" She lets go of her nose and looks at me, again. I'm not sure what I did to annoy her, but I push the thought aside as I respond. "Yes, I hoped doing well in the Academy would get me noticed by the Explorer's League." She nods.

"Your father has requested that you be denied entrance to the Explorer's League for the time being. I did not inquire as to why, but he indicated it was of the utmost importance."

I blink. What? My father...? He's the one who encouraged me to join, though... I open my mouth, then close it as I can't think up a response. Scarlett continues. "As such, he has requested that I _personally_ inform you that your graduation from the academy will be put off for an indefinite amount of time." I'm dumbfounded. What the hell did she just say? I just completed the final exam for the Academy, and even _multiple_ years ahead of time! "B-but..." Is all I can stutter out as I stare at her in shock. "I must apologize, Miss Violet. You can retain your starcraft, but you will not be given _any_ license to drive it, outside of the Station. Your use will be limited." She seems to show no emotion as she tells me this. This changes everything. What the fuck? I try to stay calm, but I can't help myself. I practically jump out of my chair and slam my hands onto her desk. "You can't do that!" Her expression doesn't change, and she doesn't even move her head. She simply looks up at me as I yell at her. "Again, I must apologize. We will also make sure you receive the appropriate funding to live here comfortably until you are allowed to graduate." My face flushes at my overreaction, and I sit back down, although my brow is furrowed now as I listen to her. "You are allowed to leave, of course, but I believe you would do better off here, as you wait." She remains calm as my world crumbles around me. She shows no evidence of emotion, other than an irritated tone.

I sit there in silence as I try to digest everything. Scarlett keeps talking, but by this point I'm not giving her any attention. What did she say? My own father, who encouraged me for years, and even funded my entire education here, has denied my graduation and entrance to the Explorer's League? What the actual fuck? That can't be right. What the fuck. Fuck. FUCK. This can't be fucking happening, what the fuck... Time passes, and Scarlett dismisses me from her office. I absentmindedly return to my starcraft as I think about what she said. I turn my thoughts over in my head, trying to see if anything fits together, but nothing connects- Nothing makes any fucking sense.

Do they think I'm not good enough? Did I fuck something up? Did I not live up to my dad's expectations? What did I do? "FUCK!" I yell out as I throw one of my pillows at the wall as hard as I can. It bounces off the wall and lands softly on the ground. I hold my face in my hands, I've really got no muscular strength. "Hah..." I sigh and fall back onto my bed and let my thoughts race. I stare at the grey, metallic ceiling. There are no actual lights on the ceiling, all the lights in the room are emitted by fittings in the walls. They replicate a star's light while remaining completely safe. My bed is up against the wall, with an automatic door a short distance away. There's a closet with a metallic shutter that can be pulled upward at the press of a button. There's nothing in the closet, yet, but it'll be full enough, soon. Or, it should've been.

I groan as I turn over and shove my face into my last pillow. I yell as hard as I can into it.

I pull my head out of my pillow and rest my chin on it. I can feel the tiredness setting in as my eyelids grow heavy. Goddammit. I can't sleep now, I've gotta figure out what to do next. I'm fighting a losing battle as I struggle to stay awake. I can't help it, though. Sleep seems really nice right about now... I rest my head on its side and promptly fall asleep. Whoops.

~

I slowly opened my eyes, and lazily look around the room as I come to. I slowly sit up and rub my head. For a moment, something sounds off, but it passes quickly. I throw my legs over the side of the bed and notice I'm still wearing my good clothes. "Whoops..." I mutter as I get up and stretch: first reaching up, then bending over to reach for the ground; my tail sticks straight in the opposite direction as I do this. After I'm done stretching, I kneel next to my bed and rummage through my bags, looking for anything to put on. I suddenly remember what happened yesterday, and a feeling of both relief and disappointment pass over me at once. I completed the Academy's final exams, but was denied my graduation from the Academy.

Groaning to myself, I grab my usual academy-wear. I quickly walk over to the door and pull up the holo-panel, locking it. After I'm done locking the door, I slowly slip out of my good clothes until all I'm wearing is my underwear; a black, soft bra that covers my small breasts and short underwear that starts down my thighs and hides most everything. I curse at the air as I take a moment to hold my chest. I take a deep breath and I resume changing.

After I fold my good clothes and set them on my bed, I walk over to the door and unlock it. It opens and I walk through, but I instantly notice that something's off. I look around, but can't quite tell what seems different. I walk down the short aisle and go down a ladder to reach the cockpit. I turn and freeze. There's a Red Giant outside of the open glass cockpit. The Station was by a smaller, yellow star. Uh. The hell? I take a quick look around, and notice that all the terminals in the cockpit have the words "EMERGENCY POWER" on them. Is this some kind of virtual sim? Some kind of test I wasn't aware of? I look around, but otherwise find nothing else out of the ordinary.

I head out to the airlock, and sure enough, there's nothing but empty space beyond the glass viewport at the top of the door. I turn around, wide awake by now. I quickly walk over to the utility closet and open it... Or, it doesn't open at all. Okay. No need to panic. I head to the engine room and, luckily enough, the door still works. I step inside the room and look around. I can hear a low humming now. I think I've heard it the whole time, but I haven't noticed it 'till now. The main generator seems to be working... What the fuck? It says it's at full power... If it were at full power, it would have overloaded, so it obviously isn't at full power. Is the holo-display fucked? I make a gesture and the ship's diagnostics show up. The main generator is, in fact, at full power... Why hasn't it overloaded? There's nowhere for all the power to go.

Wait. What's that? There. Something's on the hull, it says here. It's taking _all_ the power. The fuck? There's no name showing up, no option panel for any third-party device, so what could possibly be taking all this power? I swipe to the left and inspect some of the finer details displayed on the main generator. The transfer happened a few standard hours ago, but hasn't stopped. Okay. That's fucking freaky. Nothing short of a medium-sized cruiser's FTL can take that much power. This starcraft isn't even big enough for its personal light FTL. All right, It's safe to say I'm freaking out now. This has to be some virtual sim. Right? Mm...

The ship jumps, tossing me against the wall. I quickly regain my balance as I look around. Okay. I'm still alive. I look at the main generator, which has gotten eerily quiet. I check the holo-display out, which says the main generator is out of energy. Oh fuck. As if on cue, the overhead lights shut off, and red, blaring, emergency lights start up. The ship begins to rumble, and it feels like it's moving. I quickly leave the engine room and enter the cockpit. The red star is off to the right now as the ship's rumbling only grows. What the fuuuuck? I sit in the pilot seat and screw with the controls, but nothing responds to me. Every monitor still days "EMERGENCY POWER." As I'm trying to get control of the ship, it lurches forward again, except this time it doesn't stop. Slowly, but surely, the sun starts to fall behind the ship. It's hard to tell how fast we're going in the middle of space with no reference, but the ship is vibrating so intensely, I don't think it ever stopped speeding up. I guessed correctly, as the lights of other stars begin to whir past as streaks of light. Oh, _fuck_.

I'm thrown against the seat as the craft suddenly increases in speed again. The whole damn ship is vibrating so hard it feels like it'll tear itself apart. I close my eyes and try not to piss myself from the fright or weight of gravity on me. After what I assume has been a few minutes of this, the ship begins to slow, and I find I can finally move again. I gasp as I suddenly have no weight pulling me back anymore. I'm breathing heavily, and looking around frantically. Just as I begin to look around, I notice that my ship passes just a little too close to a star as we flash through empty space. Holy shit. We're still going fast.

I notice a white dot off in the distance. I have to squint to see it, at first. Slowly, the dot becomes bigger. That's a _planet_. Oh boy. The planet's getting bigger by the second. Fuck me. I'm going to crash into that planet.

I get out of the chair and scramble around the cockpit, looking for anything that works. Everything is still shut off, though. I get an idea, and rush back to the engine room. The door opens casually, taking its damn time. I squeeze in as soon as the gap is big enough for me, and rush to the auxilliary generator. The aux generator seems to be working just fine, and the holo display indicates the main systems seem to be powered up. I scroll through some of the systems and find the subsytem I was looking for. The cockpit seems to be quarantined from the rest of the ship's controls. How the fuck? Whatever! I bypass the quarantine and allow the cockpit access to the main controls again. I nod and quickly rush back to the cockpit. Oh, my fucking gods. I can see mountains in the distance. Everything is covered in snow. I shake my head and sit in the pilot seat, fumbling with the safety strap. I hit a button, and mutliple holographic screens appear in front of my face, giving me a bunch of details on the ship. I grab the control sticks on either side of me and give them a quick check. The control sticks don't work, fuck. I swipe on one of the screens and hit a button, which causes a helmet to be lowered in front of me. I quickly put the helmet on and hit the auto-tighten button on the side of it. The HUD appears and connects with the ship.

The ship has entered the atmosphere, judging by the flames outside the cockpit windows. The rumbling resumes, not quite as bad as before. I screw with some of the holo-panels again, until I finally get the controls working. Yes! Now I can- Too late. I'm about to hit the ground. OHFUCK-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feel free to leave a comment with your thoughts, I like interacting with my readers. Thanks for reading this, btw.


	2. A surprise visitor.

Ugh. My head... What... Where am I? I can't see anything. I think I can move, okay. I rub my head, but I wince as soon as I do so. There's something on my hand, some kind of liquid? I reach back up and gingerly touch my head. Shit, I think my head is bleeding. My ears seem to be intact, though, which is good. I try to sit up, but hit my head on something metallic right away. "Ow..." My head falls back to the ground, which has a mixed feeling of soft and cold, and bits metal scrap strewn about. By now, my eyes seem to have adjusted and I can see the faint outline of my body when I look down. I try to raise my hands. Yup, my fingers are all there.

I hear a rumbling, which prompts me to glance around. I can see what I think is part of the cockpit window over me; it seems to have saved me from having the entire craft crushing me. Holy fuck... There's all kinds of wreckage on the other side of the curved window, and I can see a few sparking wires. It doesn't look like the entire window is on top of me; only a portion of it is there. I barely have enough space to move. Yeah, this doesn't look like too good.

I noticed my breathing quickened, and my heart was hammering in my chest. I take a few deep breaths to calm myself down, to no avail. I look around for a moment, but just as I turn my head the glass in the window cracks. I look up and hear a loud _CRACK_ as glass shards fall and slice my face up. "FUCK!" I yell as I move to cover my face.

Suddenly, everything rumbles and seems to come crashing down. The shaking lasts for only a few moments, but it feels like the whole world is going to crack open. After the shaking subsides, I realize I'm still alive. I open my eyes slowly and find myself still underneath a half-broken window; but I can see the dark sky now. I take a gulp of air and sigh for my temporary relief. I wipe my forehead and look at my hand. My hand is scratched up, but is okay otherwise. I check my other hand and find it covered in blood. I have a moment of panic as I wipe my hand off and look it over. No cuts or anything. Where did... Oh. I go to feel my head, again, and look at my hand. Yup. I fucked my head up.

I drop my hands to either side as I glance to my left, then right. I'm very lucky to have been caught under this, and not crushed under the rest of the wreck.

Well, it looks like a lot of the craft fell off to the side, which might let me get out, but... Now this window is gonna be a problem. I reach up and feel part of the metal frame, which was built into the glass in sections to help reinforce it. I try to look for a hole in the glass I could maybe squeeze through; no luck, though. I'm stuck in here. I close my eyes and take a second to think. _I could... No, maybe...? What about... Could this work...? I might be able..._ As my mind swirls, I shake my head. This is looking pretty grim. I figure it might be better to try to escape than just lie here, so I get to work.

I try pushing the window up, but to no avail. There's a large metal pipe filled with wires holding the entire thing down off to the side. That didn't work. I try to curl myself up so I can move body and look around. As I'm scanning the area, I notice a sizable hole in the window's edge toward where my feet were, and I try to turn to look through it. I manage to peek through the hole and catch a glimpse of the outside world. White. White everywhere. There's some hills and strange trees off in the distance, but most importantly, no sign of civilization. Fuck. The hole doesn't seem big enough for me to fit through, so I turn onto my back to look at the window again. Next I try to kick at some cracks in the glass, but it doesn't look like I'm strong enough to do anything.

I hold my face and rub it into my hands. Fuck. Now what? Uh... Well, now that I think about it, I hear a noise in the background. I let go of my face and look around. A large chunk of the craft's chassis is off to the side, and- There's light coming over the edge! Is someone there? I immediately yell for help, hoping that anyone outside may be able to hear me.

No response. I yell again. Nothing. As I stare at the craft, I notice something is starting to creep over the edge. What is...? Oh. That's fire. Plasma fire, probably from the reactor. A bright, blue fire is eating away at the remains of my ship and is creeping toward me. Oh my fucking gods. I panic and kick at the glass again, my attempts at escape renewed. I keep yelling for help while working away at the glass. I look around in a craze, trying to find a way out.

FUCK. The flame is creeping down the side of the ship and seems to about ten meters away from me. Oh damn. It's getting closer by the second. Shit. It's _really_ closing in. I try to force my head through the large hole I'd found earlier, grunting with effort. To my surprise, my head pops out. What. That worked? No time to think about it; I jimmy my shoulders through, then my arms, and now I'm down to my hips. Of all things... My fucking ass is stuck. I try to push myself out, now able to use my arms. I hear a thud and look up. A flaming piece of metal fell off the main wreck and landed on top of the window. As soon as I notice the piece of fiery metal, I can already feel the heat penetrating the glass and lick at my legs. I struggle as hard as I can, although I can't tell if I'm making any progress. Parts of jagged metal are stabbing into my hips, but I ignore them in my frenzied panic.

The fire is about a meter away now and has almost engulfed the armored window. I can _hear_ the glass and metal melting as it devours everything. Fuuuuuck! I close my eyes and push with all the strength I can muster. To my surprise, yet again, I pop out. I quickly open my eyes and look down in surprise. My suit has been torn to hell and there's multiple gashes in my hips now. I wonder at how there's no pain for but a moment as I'm suddenly being dragged away from the heap of melted glass and metal. What? I'm not losing my mind, right?

I just now notice something has hold of my arms and are holding them over my head as they pull me along. I look up, only to see a mask of some alien animal surrounded by a white-fur hood look back at me. I blink a few times as they let go of me. I hit the ground with an oomph, but I'm quickly hit with a feeling of weightlessness as I... move up? Oh, no, wait, they've picked me up now and are carrying me in both their arms. My savior is wearing some kind of fur suit. I can't get a good look at him, which it must be, as he carries me easily and starts to run off. I throw my arms around him at the sudden increase in speed. Holy _shit_ he's fast!

I turn my head to look at my ship. There's a single blue pillar of flame reaching high up into the sky. The entire wreck is melting away as it's engulfed by the fire. I feel like there's something more important that I can't remember, but I'm panicking too much to recall what. The entire fire suddenly flashes green, and then I remember.

I look up at the masked head above me. I don't know if he'll understand, or if we even speak the same language for that matter, but I shout as loud as I can. "DROP NOW!" He looks at me, embraces me, and then falls falls to the ground. I grunt at the sudden impact, but my entire body is shaken to the core by a sudden shock wave.

Very suddenly, the entire sky is filled with blue; not a sky blue, but a radiant neon blue. My ears pop and I feel like my head is going to explode from how loud it is. I reach up to hold my ears to my head, covering them the best I can. I shut my eyes tight as the neon blue light has become too much to bear anymore. Holy shit. Am I about to die? Is this what death feels like?

.

..

...

Well. I'm alive, I think. I can't hear, nor can I see. I'm pretty sure I'm blind. And deaf. I think I fell unconscious, because I don't remember what happened after the light filled my vision. My entire body is sore, so it's hard to think straight. I feel like parts of my body are wrapped in something, but I can't tell what. I want to move, but every time I try, I feel something touch my hand and gently push it back down. I'm pretty sure my savior from earlier is taking care of me, but I can't tell what's actually going on beside that.

My ears feel like they're being held down by something, which is a little disconcerting, but I haven't been able to check if they're all right or not. I wiggle my toes, and as far as I can tell, everything's there still. I try to stretch my fingers by pulling them up and letting them drop one by one. My fingers seem fine, although they are a little stiff. I try to blink my eyes multiple times and while I could feel the sensation of my eyelids moving, no matter what I did, my vision didn't come back.

After what felt like some time, I felt a warm hand on my forehead. Hm. The fingers are slender, but rough as if they're used to physical labor. How would I know? I'm taking a guess, more than anything. Could be wrong. I can't fucking tell. I'm blind! As I argue with myself, my savior removes his hand and covers my face with something. I can't tell what he put on my face, but I feel very warm now. Actually, I felt really cold before whatever he did but I just didn't notice. Huh. Out of nowhere, I feel something on top of me. Whatever is on me is heavy, but bearable. I really wish I could tell what was going on, but at least I'm alive, I guess. Shit, I actually feel kind of okay now, despite the discomfort from my injuries. I pull myself together into a ball to get warmer, and whatever is on top of me adopts a different position to cover me better. I would normally question it, but my head is too... What's the word? Mm, whatever...

.

..

...

I wake up again, but this time I can see a blue sky above me. Oh, thank fuck. Ugh. Now I can _definitely_ feel sore, and my head's pounding on top of that. I blink my eyes, hoping to dispel the pain, but nothing happens. Damn. Now that I'm coming to my senses, I notice two things: One, something is covering the entire lower half of my body and two; it's freezing fucking cold. I'm not exaggerating, I'm feel like my head is about to turn into a ice cube. I grimace at the thought and try to pull myself under what I assume is a blanket. My body feels heavy, and I have trouble making any large movement, so it feels like it takes ages for me to pull the blanket up and over my nose. I want to cover my head, but I also want to be able to see what's going on, too.

Now that I'm satisfied with my condition, I turn my head to look to the left. Wow. That's a lot of... White. I learned about this stuff, before, but I don't remember what it's called. All I know is it's freezing cold, from my experience with it so far. I see some kind of forest off in the distance, followed by some white mountains farther away. Something strikes me as odd about the trees, but my mind is too foggy to understand what, so to avoid any further headache, I turn my head to the right. I notice some crates nearby, they seem to be made of a dark wood. Huh. Usually see metal crates, so that's different. They're all stacked together, and there looks to be about four in total.

I blink and look back up at the sky. I don't see a sun, despite it being almost blindingly bright out. My eyes open wide as I suddenly remember the explosion. Holy shit. I survived _that?_ Godsdamn. How... how the fuck was the explosion that massive? Only an FTL Drive, or worse could... Wait. My ship said there was something attached to it? No way... Well, that explains the explosion and how I got here. But why was it there in the first place? If I'm even right, that is... Ow. All this thinking is hurting my head. Hah...

.

..

...

I open my eyes, again, to see a darkened sky and an uncountable number of stars. My eyes are already adjusted, so I immediately notice some kind of light of to my right. I turn and see a pile of wood on fire. I'm concerned for a moment before I realize it's not close enough to hurt me, but I _can_ feel the heat radiating from it. The masked guy who saved me is sitting on a crate a meter or two away, poking at the fire with a plank. Um. A plank? Oh. Probably from one of the crates around. Now that I can get a good look at him, he seems to be wearing a full fur suit covering him for the most part. He's wearing some bright grey leather boots and has thick gloves of some kind on. The gloves seem to be a darker color, but I can't tell with the fire.

He seems to still be wearing the mask from earlier. It's definitely not any animal I know of; it's a completely foreign design. He seems to be focused on stoking the fire, so I can't see that mask directly. I turn to look to my left and... yup. Everything is still the same over there. Huh. Looks kinda nice in the dark, I guess. I chuckle sheepishly to myself, and curl up into a ball under the blanket. I sigh. This is really happening. Oh my gods. Holy shit. Fuck me. Uh... What's another good one? Bullshit! Yeah, that's a good one.

Shit, I think something is in my eye. My vision is blurring, and I'm sniffling. Yup. I'm feeling it now. I'm fucked. I almost fucking died. I think... someone tried to _kill_ me. Why? What did I do? Was Race really that pissed off I broke up with him? Fuck, I'm sorry, okay. You didn't need to fuck me over like before... No, that wasn't his fault, ugh, what am I saying?

I feel a hand on my shoulder and jump in my skin. I quickly turn around to see the multi-fanged mask staring at me. The mask has one large set of curved teeth with multiple larger teeth jutting out at random intervals. "Are you okay?" I hear him say to me, although his voice is so muffled I can hardly tell what he's saying. I nod to him and wipe my face on the blanket. He stands up and walks back over to the fire. I hear him mumble something, but I can't make out what. Probably didn't say anything pleasant... I lay my head down and stare off into the distance. The forest is so dark it's hard to make any individual tree out, and the mountains seem to be especially far away.

.

..

...

The next time I wake up, it's bright out again. I yawn and stretch under the blanket before slowly sitting up. I'm still sore all over, so I _have_ to sit up slowly. The blanket falls down to my lap and I'm instantly hit with a wave of cold air. I cross my arms and shiver as I yawn again. I look down and see that my suit is almost completely ruined now. The sleeves have been torn off and I have bandages all over my arms. I reach up to feel my head only to find more bandages wrapped around my head. I'm not sure how bad it is, but I'm not hurting too bad aside from being sore. I feel something fall on my back and look over my shoulder to see the masked man drop a fur coat onto me. I nodded in thanks before looking away so I could focus on snuggling up in the coat. Well, now that I got to see his mask during the day, I got another look at his mask. The teeth looked _real_ , like they were capable of tearing me apart. I hear some muffled crunching as he walks away. Oh, hey, my hearing's back. I just noticed. Well, at least I can hear things now. I slipped the coat on, but it was definitely too big for me since the cuff of the sleeves didn't even reach my hands.

I shivered again, and I was now noticing just how cold it really was here. I groaned; I really want to be somewhere warm right now. I reached back over my shoulder to check for a hood, which I found, and pulled it over my head. My tall feline ears were forced to poke out the front since I couldn't get them to stay underneath the hood. I glanced off to the right to see how the fire was looking, only to find it completely spent and smoldering. Hey, where's the crates? I looked around for a moment, but didn't find anything other than the white... dirt? No, that wasn't it... I was pulled out of my head when the guy tapped on my shoulder, probably to get my attention. I turned again, and this time he was crouched next to me, holding a a piece of... wood? I think? It was completely black and had cloth tied around at the top.

I blinked. "What's that for?" He gestured for me to take it. "It gets cold out." He said, still muffled. I narrowed my eyes at him. "I know, I mean what do you want me to do with a burnt piece of wood?" He shook his head. "This isn't burnt. This is local." He explained, as if that cleared everything up. "Right, um, why is it black?" He shrugged and continued. "Just take it, you will need it." I wanted to ask him some more questions, but I also didn't want to annoy him any further, so I just took the stick from him and looked the thing over. I heard him make a noise; he seemed amused at my reaction. I glanced at him and he put his hands up in defense.

Then he stood up. Damn. The dude's definitely over 2 meters tall. This guy towered over me and even after I stood up I was still short about half a meter. He pulled out a piece of wood similar to the one I carried from a belt on his waist. There were some odd tools on his waist, but nothing I really recognized. Now that the he was standing in front of me and I had a good view of him, I realized his fur coat was so thick it looked almost comical. While looking him up and down with a brow raised, I caught sight of something behind him. I leaned to the side, which prompted a tilt of the head from the masked dude. I averted my eyes from him as I thought of how dumb I must have looked. I mumbled an apology, but he waved it off. "No need to worry. Did this catch your eye?" He shifts his body so I can see behind him, and I notice he has a massive, white, fluffy tail which seems to poke out of his fur coat. I nod as a response to his question. Holy shit, that tail looks fluffy...

After showing off, he walks over to what's left of last night's(?) fire and fumbles around with something that I can't see. He does look really odd with that fur outfit, though. I can't see anything underneath other than more fur, which makes me wonder if he's furry underneath everything, too. Probably not, though, as he wouldn't need the fur suit. I clear my throat as some more _suggestive_ thoughts come to mind. _I wonder what's under there..._ Ahem. Anyway, to distract myself, I look down at my legs only to find I have my own thick, white fur leggings on. When did those get there? I don't feel anything under them, and it looks like my suit's been carefully torn off at the waist... My face flushes as I realize the implications of my previous thought. Well, um, he... he kind of needed to, I guess? Eheh...

I shake my head and simultaneously hear a muffled chuckle from the masked guy's direction. I look up to see him crouched and looking over his shoulder at me. I throw my head to the side quickly; I don't need the attention right now. Okay. That was embarrassing. Everything about the past few minutes was embarrassing. I want to curl up in a ball. Again.

I hear a shuffling noise and take a glance in the direction I heard the noise. There is a huge furry animal staring at me. Okay. Uh. It's baring its fangs at me. That's a big dog... thing. The masked man walks in between the two of us and waves the animal off. To my surprise, and his apparently, judging by how he seems to almost jump back, it rushes him. Holy shit.

Before it's even started, the fight's over. He moved so fast I could barely keep up. The dog was now in the ground and the masked dude had one of his boots planted in its side. The dog whimpered and tried to scramble out of his grasp, but seemed stuck. The masked guy took a fast look around the area before he let his leg up off the dog, followed by a quick kick to its ribs. The dog jumped up to its feet and quickly ran off in the direction it came from. "Let's get moving. It will be back with more, soon." I hear my again savior say, still muffled beyond recognition. I nod, mostly to myself. "That sounds like a good idea, but, uh, where to?" He turns to regard me as he takes a second to think. "Somewhere safe." Wow. How cryptic. I want to ask him all kinds of stuff, but I figured now _probably_ wouldn't be the best time for something like that.

The masked man turns to the left and starts walking away. Oh. He meant right now? Okay, I think? I follow closely behind him, holding my coat as close to me as I can. I look around before we're too far away, trying to get the courage to break the silence. "So, um, is there anything we- er, you need to grab before we go?" He doesn't stop and keeps a slow pace up, probably for me. "No." All right then. I guess we're just going to start walking to fuck-knows-where. Yay.

We walk for a while, and I quickly lose track of time. I feel like we've been walking for some time now, but when I look up at the sun, it's barely moved. I'm debating with myself whether or not to ask for a quick break but, again, I don't have the courage to break the silence. He just quietly walks ahead, barely giving a passing glance to anything around him. After a few minutes, I decide not to speak up. I look for a way to pass the time as we walk, but the landscape is so barren, there's nothing but white stuff everywhere. We seem to be in some sort of impression in the surrounding landscape, because there's hills in every direction that I can't see past. Eventually I give up in the surrounding landscape and focus on this guy's tail. It's kind of... mesmerizing, actually. It's huge, like, half my height by itself, and it's gently swaying from side to side as he walks. I'd love to touch it... Ahem. That was a weird thought. I shake my head as I follow behind him. I'll focus on something else. Well, let's see here... Like I said previously, his fur coat is so thick it looks comical, and I feel pressed to ask what the deal with that is. While his coat looks comfy, I really wonder how fluffy his tail would feel... Oh, shit, whoops. Back to the tail, huh? Anything to keep my mind active and away from what happened the other day.

Time passes, and the sun seems to hardly move still. Weird. I'm fairly sure it's just me, but I'm starting to get suspicious. I might just be overthinking things, though. By now I'm about to drop dead from exhaustion since I'm too scared to speak up. What if he ignores me and demands we keep walking? What if he decides to leave me behind after everything that has happened? I'm sure he didn't go out of his way just to save me, why would he? This place is so desolate, I don't see why he would just be waiting for me near where I crashed. Maybe he'll decide that I'm not worth the effort, after all. Oh, shit, whoops. I fell. I try to stand back up, but my arms aretoo weak to push me up. I shake for a moment before I fall back to the ground. Fuck. Now what? I hear some noise from up ahead, but I can't tell what's going on. I hear something else, it sounds like someone talking. Oh, I'm blacking out. Shit.


	3. How am I not dead?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1 meter is about 3.3 feet.

...

I'm awake. Again. I... where am I? I'm shaking, like, a lot. I want to look around, but I can't see much; not because it's dark, but because it's so windy I can't open my eyes. Now that I can actually think, um, I'm pretty sure I'm being carried. In someone's arms. Yet again. Oh yeah, that's right, I passed out for the nth time, didn't I? Whoops, I guess. How am I not dead yet, seriously? Why hasn't this dude just left me behind? Shit, whatever; as long as I'm alive, there's probably no need to worry just yet. Wait, maybe he'll do something to me... Mhm, that makes sense. If he's out here all alone, it probably gets pretty lonely, huh? I mean, I don't know... I barely know the dude, so I can't say I'd really be down for anything. Right, he could also just rape me, too. Not like a tough dude like him needs consent, right?

Okay, that's enough of that train of thought. What's actually going on? Uh... My head is covered up by something; a hood, probably. I'm still somewhat warm, so I probably still have everything on me, okay. Something _is_ covering my face though, but it feels similar to what I'm wearing, so I can probably assume it's some kind of mask or whatever. Cool, so I probably haven't had anything frozen yet, other than my nose.

We walk for what feels like a while; I have no idea what time it is or how long it has actually been. The storm starts die down, finally, and I can actually open my eyes and look around. The landscape isn't much different from earlier, which is a little surprising, actually. The hills have disappeared, but the stuff on the ground is still here as far as I can see. I shuffle around a little, trying to look around, but that seems enough to alert my savior. "You're awake?" I freeze up, unsure of how to respond. If I answer, he'll probably yell at me for earlier. If I ignore him, well, fuck knows what will happen, but that'll probably annoy him as well; especially if he knows I'm awake. After deliberating on what to do for a moment, he speaks up again. "Sorry. I didn't realize you were so tired. I should have known you wouldn't be able to keep up with me." Now I have no choice but to answer- I mean, _my_ savior is apologizing to _me._ "You don't need to say sorry for anything, I should've said something, so it's my fault, really." I can't bring myself to look at him as I apologize to him. He doesn't respond and just keeps walking.

Well okay then, this is kind of awkward now. I'm still too scared to speak up of my own volition, especially now that it's been a minute or two. I mean, what would I even say after that? Shit... Well, I guess I might as well curl up and relax while I can; I'm still sore, but I don't want to be stuck in this dude's arms the whole way to wherever we're going. May as well get rested up so I can do something later, right?

.

..

...

Okay, not what I meant by "doing something later," thank you very much. Basically, those creepy fuckin' dogs from earlier have caught up with us and are now circling us. It was kind of, no, _really_ sudden. I was just getting the courage to speak up, maybe even get some walking in, when masked dude stopped suddenly, quickly set me on the ground, and pulled a flare out. Oh, yeah, it was dark by now and there were still clouds overhead so I couldn't see very well, even though my vision is supposed to be good. Anyway, he pulled that flare out, popped it, and suddenly I can see a dozen or so of those dogs all around us. Holy fuck, they scared the shit out of me. Even with the flare, they were hard to make out against the snow around me- The only way I could see them was that they were taller than the ground, which was obvious once they were illuminated.

Masked dude muttered something I couldn't hear and started thrusting the flare out toward the dogs. Now that they knew we knew they were there, they weren't trying to hide anymore and I could hear them scampering around us. These things seemed smaller than the one from earlier, but they definitely looked more scary now. From the glimpses I managed to catch when they weren't running around, these things had huge jaws that seemed capable of fitting my whole body in it despite them not being much bigger than I was. They were baring their fangs, that much I could tell, and I could see their interlocking, curved teeth. They had two eyes on each side of their head, one big and one small, no apparent ears, but otherwise looked like normal big, white dogs.

Okay. Yup. About ready to piss myself here, but I'm not gonna let that happen. Probably.

Masked dude grunted something, and then pulled one of those big sticks from earlier out of his belt. The stick had something wrapped around it at the top, but I couldn't tell what it was exactly. He shoved the stick into the tip of the flare. What was he doing? Oh, that's what. He lit the tip of the stick on fire, but it wasn't a strong enough flame to really- Holy shit! The whole stick immediately caught on fire and engulfed his hand with it. The masked dude quickly threw the stick to the ground in between us as it started glowing brightly. Fuck, it's so bright I can barely see.

Before I get the chance to regain my vision, I'm suddenly standing up and the masked dude is in between me and the fire, so I can barely see him. He pulled me up and forced the flare into my hand. He points off into the distance. "You need to go, the flare will keep you safe for now." I stuttered as I tried to think up a response, but before I could speak, he turned me around and gave me a light shove. "Go." I decided _Fuck it_ and started running where he told me to go. I could see the shadows from the fire all the way over here, but I couldn't make anything out.

I heard some kind of high pitched scream as I ran and pulled my tall ears down to my head as I went. What the fuck was that?! Fuck, I wish I could go back and check on masked dude, but I'm too busy being scared out of my fuckin' mind and running like hell!

...

It felt like an eternity of running, but I've finally slowed down and dared to look behind me.

There's nothing there. Thank the gods. I realize I'm breathing heavily and decide to take a minute to catch my breath. I pretty much drop to my sore knees in exhaustion, but manage to hold myself up off of the ground. The flare has died out by now, and the usual darkness has returned. I can still see somewhat well for a few meters, but it gets gradually darker beyond that to the point I can't see much of anything. Normally I'd have no problem with the dark, but I have a sort of mind-numbing fear of it right now. I think that's kind of deserved, okay?

I slowly get up, trying not to disturb anything out in the darkness. I look around cautiously, but I don't see very much. I keep walking, forcing my legs forward. Damn, I forgot how sore I was all over, shit.

...

More walking. Yay. I've decided I probably don't need to run for my life anymore, but I'm still keeping a brisk pace up, just in case. I haven't heard nor seen anything for a while now, so I think I'm in the clear. Hopefully I don't jinx myself, though. I sigh, looking around again as I do so. I can see a lot better now, but I still can't see jack shit against the white outline of the stuff on the ground. Well, to be more specific, there is _no_ outline to speak of and all I can see wherever I look is white. It's hard to tell if I'm looking at the ground a few meters in front of me or way off into the distance. I can't see, hear, nor smell anything, and it's kind of freaking me out. It's like I've been dropped into some kind of hell here.

Okay, might as well do a once over to see if I'm missing anything that I didn't notice. I feel around under my hood real quick and find both my hair and my cat ears are still there. Okay. I feel around under the furry mask I have on, which is honestly kind of annoying by now. Okay, my face seems fine, other than being really fucking cold. I hug my arms together and feel them up and down. Okay, I can feel everything and my jacket seems to be fine, which is good. I slow for a moment as I shake my legs out. Yup, I can feel everything down there, that's good.

I take a quick look behind me and... Yup, tail is intact, cool. I breathe a sigh of relief as I continue my way forward. There's still not very much to be seen around, which could be both good and bad. I really hope that this is a colonized planet, otherwise I'm probably kind of fucked, huh. Well, there was the masked dude, but what if he's the only one on this whole damn white rock? No point in worrying myself over it too much, right now; I need to keep moving. I hope he had some kind of reason for sending me off this way, actually.

...

I'm in a forest. I think it's a forest, anyway. The trees are really dark, and none of the white stuff on the ground are on them. The trees seem to be around 4-10 meters tall and I was expecting to see them covered in the stuff on the ground, but no. Huh. All I could hear before was the crunching from me walking, but now I can actually hear some animals. I haven't seen anything yet, but I can definitely hear some chirps and croaks here and there. The first time I heard them I freaked the fuck out, but nothing has happened, so I'm assuming that there's no need to worry. I am trying to stay cautious, though, in case any of those creepy dogs show up again.

As I'm wandering around, I hear something out of the ordinary. It takes me a second to notice, but there's some crunching coming from behind me. It sounds like something is following me, but when I turned to look initially, I didn't see anything. I can barely hear it, which is kind of frightening since I'm supposed to have good hearing. Either this thing is farther away than I thought or it's really good at keeping its noise down.

Yup, I'm getting out of here. I start a slow jog up after a minute, and I hear the crunching from behind me immediately start to get quicker. Yeah, it's after me, fuck. Okay, okay, okay. I try to keep a cool head. It isn't trying to catch me yet, it's just tailing me. I think. Maybe I can jog for a bit here and take a break? My legs hurt a fucking lot, dude. I turn to look as I'm jogging and-

There's a thing in full black following me, and it's pointing something at me. It's easily around 2 meters tall. Nope. Fuck that. I turn to the right and break out into a full sprint. I can hear it clearer now, the thud of heavy footsteps behind me. Suddenly, I hear something like a lightning strike- Wait, no, that's a gunshot. Holy shit! My ears are fucking ringing! I can hear a deafeningly loud _ratata_ coming from behind me as I run, and I can _see_ bark flying around me as the trees seem to take the brunt of the gunfire. I weave in between the trees as much as I can, scared out of my mind all the while. Over the gunfire, I can hear the guy behind me shout something, but I can't make out what he's saying.

The gunfire stops abruptly, and I no longer hear footsteps behind me. I spot the fallen log of a tree nearby, jump over it, land on my side, and roll over to it. I'm completely out of breath by now, and am forced to take in huge gulps of air. I scan the area in front of me, not noticing anything immediately out of the ordinary, then I slowly peek over the edge of the log while holding my ears down. I don't see anything over there. Where the fuck did he go? Why is there a guy in full body armor with a fucking automatic leadslinger?! Who even uses those things anymore?! There's no practical use! I mean, there _is_ , but not in this kind of situation!

I duck my head down and lie on the ground, face up. What the fuck just happened? I need to figure out what to do. I'm being chased by a dude with a gun. Okay. Why is this dude so pissed at me? Um... I didn't notice anyone around until I entered the forest, so maybe he doesn't want me here? Makes sense. Why does he have a leadslinger, though? Uhh... Let's see, they're terribly inefficient, hard to keep track of, absolutely terrifying, and... I can't think of anything else right now. Maybe this is a primitive? Wow, just my luck, if that's the case. No, the armor he had seemed modern, although I didn't get a good look at it.

I hear a thud next to me and shut my eyes. Oh, okay. I'm too scared to look so I try to lay as still as I possibly can, hoping he doesn't notice me. Please don't look down please don't look down please don't look down.

My ears are greeted by a loud boom, and they start ringing again. I reach up to cover them out of instinct as the loud _ratata_ returns. For what feels like forever, yet again, all I can hear is the explosive booming of his leadslinger.

...

I slowly open my eyes, scared for what I might see. At first, all I see are the trees above me, though they're still difficult to make out individually. I look at the log i'm hiding behind and see a giant dog across the lower end of it, a meter or so away from me. I'm frozen in shock for a moment, until I realize its fur is coated in red and it's dead. I look off to my side and see multiple dogs laying around, covered in blood. The white stuff below them seems to have absorbed a lot of the blood. I'm scared to move, but I force myself to sit up and look around. I see more dogs on the other side of the log, all similarly covered in blood. I hear a shuffling noise and force myself to stay as still as I possibly can. After another heart-wrenching eternity, I muster up the courage to turn around, only to be greeted by...

More dead, creepy dogs.

I'm scared out of my mind and I have no idea why I do it, but I call out. "Hello?" I hear the shuffling noise again, it seems to be coming from behind a tree a few meters away. I work my way toward standing, glancing around frequently. I walk over to the tree and peek around it, holding myself against it for my own protection. I don't see anything except even more dead dogs and trees that have been splintered to all hell. Fuck, that leadslinger must pack a punch.

I walk out from behind the tree, in awe at the scene in front of me. There were 10 or so dead dogs by the fallen log, but there are _dozens_ of them over here. Some of the dogs seem like they were torn to pieces; by what, though? My question is quickly answered as I turn to my left and see the giant black figure hunched over at the base of the tree. The tree is covered in claw marks and blood. The man does in fact have some more modern armor- Something you wouldn't see primitives with. He has a full suit of metal plated body armor. It actually.... almost looks like a Military Grade Exosuit. What the fuck is going on here?

The dude grunts and seems to shake a bit, causing me to pretty much jump in my own skin. After he stops moving, I decide to get closer to check him out. Is he still alive, or was that one of those dying breaths from stories you'd read? I kneel down next to him and get a better look at his armor. It's still dark, so it's hard to make any specific details out, but it looks like there are giant claw marks all over his armor and huge dents. Holy shit, those claws have to be at least twice as big as my hands. I look to my right at the dead dogs, and contrary to what I expected, their paws didn't seem to have claws big enough for these dents. Sure, big enough to kill a person, but not enough to destroy a Mil-Grade Exosuit. Maybe they bit into the suit? No, these are definitely claw marks...

Is there something bigger than them around here? My attention is ripped from the dogs as my arm is suddenly caught in a powerful grip, and I'm pulled down to the soldier(?). I look at his helmet and see his visor staring right at me; his helmet has a big chunk missing out of one of the top corners, and part of the metallic visor was torn off with it. I can see half of his face through the helmet. His skin is light, he has a beard, and his eyes are a brighter color that I can't make out.

I'm dumbfounded and at a loss for words. I can't even think straight. In the back of my mind, I realize I'm in shock, but I can't do anything about it.

Without meaning to, I say the first thing that comes to mind. "I'm sorry." I don't know why I said it, or, I don't realize why yet.

He stares at me, but for some reason, his face starts to get blurry. Everything starts to blur. I use my free arms to wipe at my eyes, even though my sleeve feels like it's freezing cold. I notice his eye start to roll back as his eyelids flutter, and his grip on my arm loosens. For a moment, I think he's about to die, but his eye suddenly pops back open, wide. His iron grip is renewed and I wince from the pain of his grip.

He turns to look at something and I turn to look with him. One of the dogs from the field is slowly shambling toward us, though it looks like it'll fall over at any second. it's baring its fangs and emitting a low growl, but it sounds quiet enough that it could cut out at any second.

I feel a tug on my arm and turn to look at my savior. He's looking at me now, but he slowly turns over to look behind him, my gaze following his. There it is. A meter long rifle with a long drum mag underneath it. For the first time. he speaks. "Bring it here." His voice is so quiet, yet so firm. I don't know how to explain it, because if I wasn't there, I wouldn't get it myself, but I understand that he is determined to fight. I don't know why, but the way he reaches for the gun with his other arm with all the strength left in his body tells me. He lets go of my shoulder, and his other arm falls at the same time.

I hear a growl and turn around, only to see the dog a meter or two away from me now. The dog is crawling by this point, unable to hold itself up any longer. It looks so weak, but its eyes show that it's determined to kill us, just as we it. Wow, I'm a fucking poet now, huh? I chuckle to myself as I crawl around the soldier's dead body to reach for the gun.

I turn to face the dog and sit with the gun right next to me. I can see the soldier's grim expression as his dead eye stares at the rifle. I'm shaking now, but I don't know why. I pick the gun up, hefting its weight off the ground slowly. I can barely lift the thing and I have a hard time readjusting my grip onto the trigger and the barrel. I pull it up to my shoulder with the little strength I have, pressing my face onto the top of the rifle as I aim down the crude iron sights. Wow, this gun is really old school. With no holo display or anything, how do you keep track of ammo?

I give a deep sigh as I zero in on the dog's head, which is on top of the soldier's body. It's staring at me, and I swear I can see the hatred for me in its eyes. "Get off him." I blurt it out before the thought is formed, and then I pull the trigger. The gun jerks upward as hot metal spews from the barrel, tearing the dog's head apart with the few bullets that hit it.

I drop the gun immediately, my strength spent. My hands hurt from the vibrations of the rifle, making me shake them to attempt to get rid of the pain. After I'm done shaking my hands, I look up and see the dog laying on the ground behind the soldier, dead. I look at the soldier's body as my mind is suddenly flooded by thoughts like a dam breaking loose. Who was he? Why was he here? Where did the dogs come from? Why are there so many? Did he protect me from them? Is this the same guy that tried to kill me? How did he kill so many? How did they manage to kill him?

My mind twists and swirls around on itself, but one thing manages to make its way through the mess that is my head right now. I need to get out of here. What if there are more? What if the soldier had friends, and they're going to come kill me? I get on my knees and look at his waist. I see a pistol, and I take it. It doesn't seem anywhere near as powerful as the rifle, but I'll take what I can get. I need something to remember this guy by.

Man, why am I so broken up over him? I hardly knew him, yet I feel like I knew him better than anyone. I shake my head. I don't know what's up with that, but I need something to defend myself. Sorry, man. I stand up and look around quickly, my mind now feeling clear. I'm completely lost, huh. I pick a random direction and hesitantly start on my way. I'm scared, I really am, but I don't want to die yet.


End file.
